Why does time fly faster as we age?

I remember sitting in my grandmother’s kitchen as a child, watching her hands move rhythmically as she kneaded dough. The scent of cinnamon and nutmeg filled the air, and I would marvel at how slowly the afternoon seemed to stretch before us. “Just wait,” she would say with a knowing smile, “The older you get, the faster time flies.” Decades later, her words echo in my mind as I wonder where the years have gone.

This universal experience (time accelerating as we age) has puzzled philosophers and scientists for centuries. Now, researchers may be closer to understanding why our perception of time shifts throughout our lives.

In a fascinating study published in Communications Biology, scientists analyzed brain scans from 577 people aged 18 to 88 as they watched the same eight-minute clip from “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” The episode, titled “Bang! You’re Dead,” was specifically chosen, because it creates consistent patterns of brain activity across viewers, making it ideal for studying how our brains divide and track unfolding events.

What they discovered offers compelling insight into our relationship with time. The brains of older participants shifted to new activity states less frequently, and those brain states lasted longer compared to younger participants. This pattern was consistent across the entire age range.

This finding aligns with an idea dating back to Aristotle: the more notable events we experience in a given period, the longer that time subjectively feels. If older adults’ brains are essentially logging fewer “events” in the same timeframe, this might explain why time seems to accelerate.

The researchers attribute this phenomenon to “age-related neural dedifferentiation,” a process where brain activity becomes less specific with age. In younger people, different brain regions respond selectively to specific categories of information. As we age, however, these neural responses become more generalized, potentially making it harder to recognize where one event ends and another begins.

Yet, this neurological explanation is only part of the story. As linguist Joanna Szadura points out, we experience time on two scales: society’s linear division into hours, days, and years, and our internal logarithmic scale. To a five-year-old, one year represents 20% of their life; to a fifty-year-old, it’s merely 2%. This mathematical reality shapes our perception in profound ways.

The implications of this research extend beyond mere curiosity. Understanding how we perceive time can help us live more fully, especially as we age. As study co-author Linda Geerligs suggests, engaging in novel activities, learning new things, traveling, and fostering meaningful social connections can help make time feel more expansive.

In our community, where elders are revered for their wisdom, this research offers both scientific validation and practical guidance. It reminds us that while we cannot stop time’s passage, we can influence how we experience it, by filling our days with meaningful moments, new experiences, and genuine connections.

The next time you feel time slipping away too quickly, consider this invitation: step outside your routine, try something new, or simply linger a little longer in conversation with someone you care about. These moments, rich with novelty and meaning, might just help you reclaim time’s expansive quality, proving that while we can’t turn back the clock, we can certainly make the most of each tick.